The Islamic State [IS] has made its first incursion into Lebanon with the group attacking a border town, while the Iraqi government says they will give Kurds air support for the first time, as they are in danger of being overrun by IS in northern Iraq.

The Lebanese government confirmed 16 soldiers had been killed,
with dozens either missing or injured, Reuters reports. The
fighting took place in the village of Arsal, which is 120
kilometers northeast of the capital, Beirut, and it erupted after
an Islamist commander was captured by Lebanon’s security forces
on Saturday. The attack was quickly condemned by Lebanon, with
Beirut saying, “the attack on Lebanese national dignity will
not go unpunished.”

Later on Tuesday, the army and militants agreed to a 24-hour
truce in Arsal. However, the ceasefire collapsed as clashes
erupted once again, Reuters reported citing security officials.

Beirut said they had found the bodies of 50 militants, while a
cleric in the village said at least 50 civilians were dead. Five
Lebanese Sunni clerics were injured on Tuesday, as they arrived
in Arsal to try and mediate with the Islamic State militants.
They were seeking the release of government forces, detained by
the militants, but were wounded when their convoy came under
fire.

"The clerics are now in a hospital in Arsal, their convoy
came under fire from an area that is controlled by the
army," Mustafa al-Hujairi, a leading Sunni cleric in Arsal,
told Reuters.

The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Tammam Salam, who is a Sunni
Muslim said there could be no political deal with the Islamic
State. "The only solution proposed today is the withdrawal of
the militants from Arsal and its environs," he said.

This is the most serious incursion on Lebanese territory by the
militant group, since the civil war in Syria started three years
ago, with Salam saying the Islamic State were looking to
“move their sick practices to Lebanon.”

The army has described the Islamic States incursion into Lebanon
as an attack, which had been planned for a long time, as they look to take
advantage of sectarian divisions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims
in the country.

Lebanon has long been trying to secure the east of the country to
stem the flow of militants from Syria into the country, with the
rebels saying that dozens of fighters from Syria's Qalamoun area
just across the border had moved to Arsal on Sunday to reinforce
gunmen there. They also said that Syrian warplanes had repeatedly
bombed nearby mountains along the border, which is used by the
Islamic State, to access the village of Arsal.

Arsal is a mainly Sunni town located on the Lebanese side of the
border between Syrian government-controlled territory and
Lebanese Shiite areas sympathetic to Hezbollah.

Fighting also broke out in Lebanon’s second city, Tripoli. The
city has seen frequent fighting between local Sunni Muslims and
members of the Shiite-derived Alawite minority. Six security
forces were injured after Sunni militants opened fire on a bus,
which was carrying Lebanese soldiers.

Iraqi forces committed to helping Kurds defeat ISIS in northern
Iraq

Meanwhile in Iraq, the country’s Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki,
ordered his air force to protect Kurdish forces for the first
time from the threat posed by Islamic State militants. On Sunday,
the group (previously known as ISIS) inflicted a humiliating
defeat on the Kurds with a rapid advance through three towns to
reach the Mosul Dam, acquiring a fifth oil field to fund its operations.

They also battled to control the Haditha Dam, in western Iraq.
The dams are of vital strategic importance in
Iraq. Water is a valuable commodity, while the dams also
produce electricity, which could be sold. Conversely, IS would
have the potential to destroy the dams, which would lead to
widespread flooding across the country, including the capital,
Baghdad.

"Everything under it (Mosul Dam) will be under five to 10
meters of water... including Baghdad itself," said Ali
Khedery, head of the Dubai-based consultancy Dragoman Partners
and a longtime adviser to the US military, government and
companies in Iraq. "It would be catastrophic."

There have been deep divisions between the Kurds and Baghdad,
with al-Maliki accusing the Kurds, who have long dreamed of
independence, of giving refuge to militant fighters and in July
the Kurdish political bloc ended all cooperation with Iraq’s national
government in protest against this accusation.

The Islamic State already controls large areas in the northeast
of the country, including the city of Mosul.

"The general commander of the armed forces has ordered the
air force command to provide backup for the Kurdish Peshmerga
forces against the terrorist gangs of the Islamic State,"
state television quoted al-Maliki's military spokesman Qassim
Atta as saying.

Kurdish forces say they have already managed to push the
militants away from Iraq’s biggest dam, which they had seized,
but this information cannot be independently confirmed, Reuters
reports.

Kurdish forces say they were surprised by the speed and strength
of the militant forces. A commander, who asked not to be named,
said the Islamic State took everyone by surprise and had deployed
snipers in addition to heavier weapons and that, in many cases,
the Kurds had simply run out of ammunition.

"We can no longer carry on fighting with just Kalashnikov
rifles," he said.

Another senior Kurdish official said the Kurds had been
overstretched because they had to watch over a vast territory.
"The Islamic State has also beenintimidating peopleby carrying out
beheadings," he said, asking not to be identified.

After thousands of Iraqi soldiers fled their initial advance in
June, the group, then known as ISIS, seized tanks, armored
personnel carriers, anti-aircraft guns, mortars, artillery and
vehicles.

"It is a very dangerous situation for the region. Something
needs to be done soon," the senior Kurdish official said.

Nevertheless, the Kurds remain confident that they can turn the
tide back in their favor against the Sunni militant group.

One colonel said the Kurdish withdrawal was tactical, and
forecast that several Kurdish brigades would take back all
territory lost on Sunday and even win back Mosul, Iraq's biggest northern city, which is
now firmly in the hands of the Islamic State.

"We will attack them until they are completely destroyed. We
will never show any mercy," he told Reuters. "We have
given them enough chances and we will even take Mosul back. I
believe within the next 48-72 hours it will be over."